Dietrich Manzey

Complacency and Bias in Human Use of Automation: An Attentional Integration

Objective: Our aim was to review empirical studies of complacency and bias in human interaction with automated and decision support systems and provide an integrated theoretical model for their explanation. Background: Automation-related complacency and automation bias have typically been considered separately and independently. Methods: Studies on complacency and automation bias were analyzed with respect to the cognitive processes involved. Results: Automation complacency occurs under conditions of multiple-task load, when manual tasks compete with the automated task for the operator’s attention. Automation complacency is found in both naive and expert participants and cannot be overcome with simple practice. Automation bias results in making both omission and commission errors when decision aids are imperfect.Automation bias occurs in both naive and expert participants, cannot be prevented by training or instructions, and can affect decision making in individuals as well as in teams.While automation bias has been conceived of as a special case of decision bias, our analysis suggests that it also depends on attentional processes similar to those involved in automation-related complacency. Conclusion: Complacency and automation bias represent different manifestations of overlapping automation-induced phenomena, with attention playing a central role. An integrated model of complacency and automation bias shows that they result from the dynamic interaction of personal, situational, and automation-related characteristics. Application: The integrated model and attentional synthesis provides a heuristic framework for further research on complacency and automation bias and design options for mitigating such effects in automated and decision support systems.

Human Performance Consequences of Stages and Levels of Automation An Integrated Meta-Analysis

Objective: We investigated how automation-induced human performance consequences depended on the degree of automation (DOA). Background: Function allocation between human and automation can be represented in terms of the stages and levels taxonomy proposed by Parasuraman, Sheridan, and Wickens. Higher DOAs are achieved both by later stages and higher levels within stages. Method: A meta-analysis based on data of 18 experiments examines the mediating effects of DOA on routine system performance, performance when the automation fails, workload, and situation awareness (SA). The effects of DOA on these measures are summarized by level of statistical significance. Results: We found (a) a clear automation benefit for routine system performance with increasing DOA, (b) a similar but weaker pattern for workload when automation functioned properly, and (c) a negative impact of higher DOA on failure system performance and SA. Most interesting was the finding that negative consequences of automation seem to be most likely when DOA moved across a critical boundary, which was identified between automation supporting information analysis and automation supporting action selection. Conclusion: Results support the proposed cost–benefit trade-off with regard to DOA. It seems that routine performance and workload on one hand, and the potential loss of SA and manual skills on the other hand, directly trade off and that appropriate function allocation can serve only one of the two aspects. Application: Findings contribute to the body of research on adequate function allocation by providing an overall picture through quantitatively combining data from a variety of studies across varying domains.

Mental performance during short-term and long-term spaceflight

During the last years several attempts have been made to describe changes in the mental efficiency of astronauts during space missions by means of performance monitoring studies. These studies are characterized by repeated multivariate assessment of different functions of the human information-processing system. In the present paper, a first review of performance monitoring studies during short-term and long-term spaceflight is given. Despite the comparatively small number of studies, a fairly consistent pattern of effects can be derived: Whereas no or only slight impairments of elementary and complex cognitive functions or spatial processing were found in space, clear disturbances could be identified in visuo-motor tracking and dual-task performance. Both of these latter effects appear to be closely related to adaptation to altered gravity conditions. General issues of this strategy of research are discussed which concern the disentanglement of microgravity-related effects and unspecific stress effects on mental performance under conditions of spaceflight. In addition, possible mechanisms which may be responsible for tracking disturbances under microgravity are discussed, and some directions for future human performance research in space are outlined.

Mental performance in extreme environments: results from a performance monitoring study during a 438-day spaceflight.

During their stay in a space habitat, astronauts are exposed to many different stressors that may entail detrimental effects on mood and performance. In order to monitor the effects of the space environment on different human information processing functions during an extraordinary long-term space mission, the cognitive. visuo-motor and time-sharing performance of one Russian cosmonaut was repeatedly assessed (29 times) during his 438-day stay in space. The performance tasks used were chosen from the AGARD-STRES battery and included grammatical reasoning, Sternberg memory-search, unstable tracking, and a dual-tasks consisting of unstable tracking with concurrent memory-search. In addition to performance assessment, several subjective ratings concerning mood and workload were collected. Comparisons of pre-flight, in-flight, post-flight and two follow-up assessments 6 months after the mission revealed, (1) no impairments of basic cognitive functions during the flight, (2) clear impairments of mood, feelings of raised workload, and disturbances of tracking performance and time-sharing during the first 3 weeks in space and the first 2 weeks after return to Earth, (3) an impressive stability of mood and performance during the second to fourteenth month in space, where mood and performance had returned to pre-flight baseline level, and (4) no long-lasting performance deficits at follow-up assessments. From these results it is concluded that the first 3 weeks of long-term spaceflights and the first 2 weeks back on Earth represent critical periods where adverse effects on attentional processes are to be expected, induced by the demands to adjust to the extreme environmental changes. The stability of mood and performance observed after successful adaptation to the space environment indicates that mental efficiency and emotional state can be maintained on a level as high as on Earth even during extraordinary long-term space missions.

Psychology and culture during long-duration space missions ☆

The International Academy of Astronautics Study Group on Psychology and Culture in LongDuration Space Missions first convened in May 2003, at the 14 Humans in Space Symposium in Banff, Canada. After this initial meeting to define the group’s task, members divided into subcommittees and worked on drafts of sections of the document over email. The group reconvened in person several times to coordinate the structure of the paper. These sessions occurred at scientific meetings where many of the members were present. The study group formally convened in 2003 at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Bremen and at the Institute for Biomedical Problems 40 Anniversary Symposium in Moscow. In 2004 it convened at the IAC in Vancouver and at the Annual Meeting of the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) in Anchorage. In 2005 it convened at the Humans In Space Symposium in Graz, at the IAC in Fukuoka, and at the AsMA Meeting in Kansas City. In 2006 the group worked over e-mail and will convene at the IAC in Valencia after the paper is finished in order to debrief and set out plans for future work. The objective of this report is twofold: a) to describe the current knowledge of cultural, psychological, psychiatric, cognitive, and interpersonal issues that are relevant to the behavior and performance of astronaut crews and ground support personnel; and b) to make recommendations for future human space missions, including both transit and planetary surface operations on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The focus will be on long-duration missions lasting at least six weeks, when important psychological and interpersonal factors begin to take their toll on crewmembers. This information is designed to provide guidelines for astronaut selection and training, in-flight monitoring and support, and post-flight recovery and re-adaptation. After a consideration of Cultural Issues, which impact on the entire report, four main sections follow: Personality, Coping, and Adaptation; Behavioral Health and Psychiatry; Cognition and Complex Performance Skills; and Interpersonal and Organizational Issues. For each of these sections, there is a review of general issues; implications for mission operations in terms of crew selection, training, monitoring and support, and re-adaptation to Earth; and operational and research recommendations involving future missions to Earth orbit, the lunar surface, or to Mars and beyond.

Human Performance Consequences of Automated Decision Aids The Impact of Degree of Automation and System Experience

Two experiments are reported that investigate to what extent performance consequences of automated aids are dependent on the distribution of functions between human and automation and on the experience an operator has with an aid. In the first experiment, performance consequences of three automated aids for the support of a supervisory control task were compared. Aids differed in degree of automation (DOA). Compared with a manual control condition, primary and secondary task performance improved and subjective workload decreased with automation support, with effects dependent on DOA. Performance costs include return-to-manual performance issues that emerged for the most highly automated aid and effects of complacency and automation bias, respectively, which emerged independent of DOA. The second experiment specifically addresses how automation bias develops over time and how this development is affected by prior experience with the system. Results show that automation failures entail stronger effects than positive experience (reliably working aid). Furthermore, results suggest that commission errors in interaction with automated aids can depend on three sorts of automation bias effects: (a) withdrawal of attention in terms of incomplete cross-checking of information, (b) active discounting of contradictory system information, and (c) inattentive processing of contradictory information analog to a “looking-but-not-seeing” effect.

Evaluation of a navigation system for ENT with surgical efficiency criteria

The aim of this study is the evaluation of a navigation system (NaviBase) for ENT surgery. For this purpose, a new methodology for the evaluation of surgical and ergonomic system properties has been developed. The practicability of the evaluation instruments will be examined using the example of the overall assessment of the system in comparison with the current surgical standard and with other systems using clinical efficiency criteria. The evaluation is based on 102 ENT surgical applications; of these, 89 were functional endoscopic sinus surgeries (FESS). The evaluation of surgical and ergonomic performance factors was performed by seven ENT surgeons. To evaluate surgical system properties, the Level of Quality (LOQ) in 89 cases of the FESS was determined. It compares the existing information of the surgeon with that of the navigation system on a scale of 0 to 100 and with a mean value of 50 and places it in a relationship to the clinical impact. The intraoperative change of the planned surgical strategy (Change of Surgical Strategy) was documented. The ergonomic factors of the system with the categories of Overall Confidence (Trust), awareness of the situation (Situation Awareness), influence on the operating team, requirements for specific skills (Skill Set Requirement), and cognitive load (Workload Shift) were recorded for all surgical procedures as Level of Reliance (LOR). In the evaluation of the surgical system properties, an average evaluation of the quality of the information, as an LOQ of 63.59, resulted. Every second application of the navigation system (47.9%), on average, led to a change in the surgical strategy. An extension/enhancement of the indication of the endonasal approach through the use of the navigation system was shown in 7 of 102 (6.8%) cases. The completion of the resection in the FESS was rated by 74% of group I and 11% of group II as better in comparison with the standard approach. Total confidence shows a positive evaluation of 3.35 in the LOR. To supplement the evaluation of the navigation system, the technical parameters were included. The maximum deviation, Amax, of the displayed position of the reference value amounted to 1.93 mm. The average deviation was at 1.29 mm with an SD above all values, sd, of 0.29. The subsequent economic evaluation resulted in an effective average extra expenditure of time of 1.35 minutes per case. The overall evaluation of the system imparts application‐relevant information beyond the technical details and permits comparability between different assistance systems.

Dual-Task Performance in Space: Results from a Single-Case Study during a Short-Term Space Mission

During spaceflights, astronauts are exposed to many stressors (e.g., microgravity, confinement) that may impair human information-processing capabilities. In order to analyze the possible effects of the space environment on human timesharing efficiency, a single-case experiment was conducted in which the time course of dual-task performance (unstable tracking with concurrent memory search) of one space crew member was monitored repeatedly (13 times) throughout an 8-day space mission. Tasks were taken from the Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development battery of Standardized Tests for Research with Environmental Stressors. Comparisons of in-flight, preflight, and postflight performance revealed no decrements in single-task memory search performance but did reveal clear impairments in single-task tracking and dual-task performance. From these results we conclude that psychomotor processes and higher attentional functions are particularly prone to disturbance effects in space.

Impairments of manual tracking performance during spaceflight : more converging evidence from a 20-day space mission

Studies of human performance during spaceflight have consistently revealed degradations of manual tracking performance in space. The present investigation analysed these performance decrements in more detail by applying frequency response analyses of tracking performance. It was hypothesized that tracking impairments result from two factors: at an early adaptation phase in space they primarily reflect effects of microgravity on human visuo-motor processes, whereas later into the mission they are also caused by impairments of attentional processes induced by cumulative workload and fatigue. In order to investigate this hypothesis, performance of one cosmonaut in a first-order unstable tracking task was repeatedly assessed before, during and after a 20-day space mission. Singlecase statistical analyses revealed the following effects: tracking performance declined at the first assessment in space and in two later inflight sessions compared to pre-flight baseline. Whereas the early tracking decrement was mainly due to an increase of the effective time-delay during tracking and accompanied by only minor changes of mood or workload, one of the later inflight impairments was due to an increase of effective time-delay, a decreased tracking gain, and an increase of tracking remnant, and both were associated with considerably higher workload ratings. This pattern of effects supports the two-factor hypothesis.

HUMEX, a study on the survivability and adaptation of humans to long-duration exploratory missions, part I: lunar missions.

The European Space Agency has recently initiated a study of the human responses, limits and needs with regard to the stress environments of interplanetary and planetary missions. Emphasis has been laid on human health and performance care as well as advanced life support developments including bioregenerative life support systems and environmental monitoring. The overall study goals were as follows: (i) to define reference scenarios for a European participation in human exploration and to estimate their influence on the life sciences and life support requirements; (ii) for selected mission scenarios, to critically assess the limiting factors for human health, wellbeing, and performance and to recommend relevant countermeasures; (iii) for selected mission scenarios, to critically assess the potential of advanced life support developments and to propose a European strategy including terrestrial applications; (iv) to critically assess the feasibility of existing facilities and technologies on ground and in space as testbeds in preparation for human exploratory missions and to develop a test plan for ground and space campaigns; (v) to develop a roadmap for a future European strategy towards human exploratory missions, including preparatory activities and terrestrial applications and benefits. This paper covers the part of the HUMEX study dealing with lunar missions. A lunar base at the south pole where long-time sunlight and potential water ice deposits could be assumed was selected as the Moon reference scenario. The impact on human health, performance and well being has been investigated from the view point of the effects of microgravity (during space travel), reduced gravity (on the Moon) and abrupt gravity changes (during launch and landing), of the effects of cosmic radiation including solar particle events, of psychological issues as well as general health care. Countermeasures as well as necessary research using ground-based test beds and/or the International Space Station have been defined. Likewise advanced life support systems with a high degree of autonomy and regenerative capacity and synergy effects were considered where bioregenerative life support systems and biodiagnostic systems become essential. Finally, a European strategy leading to a potential European participation in future human exploratory missions has been recommended.